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Hello folks. Been a while since I posted, so I thought I would put a few pics of things I've been up to lately.

Flamed cane fountain pen with garnet thread wrap

Before falling headlong into pen making, I used to (and still do occasionally) build fly fishing rods - both graphite and bamboo. I wanted to try using some of the techniques that I applied to fly rods, only on pen making.

One of those techniques is that of the thread wrap, used to reinforce the ends of the rod segments (and to secure line guides). On the classic cane rods, the pale, or 'blonde' cane is often paired with a spring green thread wrap, while the darker, 'flamed' cane is often paired with a darker garnet thread wrap:

Blonde cane fountain pen with green thread wrap

Thread wrap on a fountain pen made of bamboo 'wood'

Bamboo Rod fountain pen with green and black thread wrap

Garnet thread wrap on flamed cane

The other technique I wanted to try was that of 'flaming' - a process used on the raw bamboo culm to give it a darker, textured colour by carmelizing and lightly charring the outer layers (usually with a blowtorch of sorts). After flaming the small culm, I took off the outer layers with steel wool, smoothed it, and gave it a good soak inside and out with thin CA to stabilize and seal it.

Bamboo has been on my list of things to try. We planted some bamboo about 3 years ago and the plants are multiplying enough now to harvest some. I did pull one cane last year, it has been drying in the basement and I just haven't gotten to it yet.

Hi Ken, very nice pens. I to have made several rods. I made them using diamond wraps and other decorative wraps. I have toyed with the idea of using some of the new weaving techniques and wrapping the whole pen body. With the cost of the weaving equipment and the learning curve, never have got around to it. You have relit that flame.
Did you use a rod finish or CA? How is the transition between the wrap and the surface of the pen blank? I was thinking of inlaying the wrap into the pen blank.
Ellis

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Nampa, Idaho
If you always do what you have always done, You will always be what you have always been.

Hi Ken, very nice pens. I to have made several rods. I made them using diamond wraps and other decorative wraps. I have toyed with the idea of using some of the new weaving techniques and wrapping the whole pen body. With the cost of the weaving equipment and the learning curve, never have got around to it. You have relit that flame.
Did you use a rod finish or CA? How is the transition between the wrap and the surface of the pen blank? I was thinking of inlaying the wrap into the pen blank.
Ellis

Thanks Ellis! The surface finish is just plain thin CA, several coats, buffed to matte. The transition from thread to pen surface is thankfully a little less crucial than in rod building (hence no epoxy finish) but is actually pretty good. Being the finish on the wrap is low build/low prfile, it comes out pretty decent.

A weave wrap on a pen - would love to see that. Guess you gotta make it happen :-))